Interested in Weight Training and bodybuilding, but I have a lot of questions.

I

Ildiran

0
I'm a 15 year old male that is interested in bodybuilding and building muscle mass. I have been reading about it for awhile now, and know some basic things about it, but I am still unsure about how I should go about it.

I'm 127 pounds, and about 5 foot 10 inches tall. I Guess I would consider myself lean,and I can see definition in my abs, but I would like to become more muscular and build muscle mass. I lift weights (curls) and do situps daily, but I know I must do much more than that to build muscle.

So I guess my question is how should a 15 year old such as myself go about weight training? Am I too young, or will it inhibit my growth?

What kind of diet should I be on? I don't usually eat much as it is, I usually skip a meal or maybe even two a day (which I know is bad for bodybuilding).

And finally, what kind of exercises should I be doing to build muscle mass? I would like to focus on my arms. I know I should have high weight and low reps, but I would like to know just how heavy it should be (to the point I could only do a few, or should it be comfortable?)

Thanks for reading this, and I appreciate any help or advice that is offered.
 
You've got a lot of questions. You're at a good age to start weightraining. The simplest way to break down a beginners weight routine is by muscle group:
Day 1: Chest - Flat Bench, incline bench, Dips, pec dec, pushups
Day 2: Back - Deadlift, Pullups, one arm row, Lat pulldown (narrow grip to add thickness to your back), cable row.
Day 3: Shoulders - Overhead press (both with a bar and dumbells), lateral raises, rear delt raises, front raises (...there are some cool variations of shoulder raises IE lateral raise the weight, then pivot the weights in front of you and lower them in front of you), shrugs.
Day 4: Legs - Squat, lunge or step-ups, Incline Press, Leg Curl/Leg Extension SuperSet, calf raises
Day 5: Arms/Abs/Core - 3 bicep exercises, 3 tricep exercises, and some abs and core stuff.

With compound movements (bench press, rows, pulldows etc), shoot for 6 - 8 reps with enough weight that you can barely finish the last rep. With isolation movements (pec dec, shoulder raises etc) shoot for 10 - 12 reps again with enough weight that you can barely finish the last rep.

Nutrition is key. Try to eat 3 meals of normal size, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Make sure you're getting protein in every meal. Then between meals snack on a protein bar, yogurt, oatmeal, fruit, peanut butter...and thigns along those lines. Don't go crazy with these snacks, something around 10 - 15 grams of protein in each snack would be great. And with your meals shoot for 25 - 30 grams per. Lean meats only, nothing fried or fatty. It might be tough for you to eat this much at first, but your body will adjust to it. Keep the fat intake around 60 grams, and overall calories between 2000 and 2500 (seems like a lot, but you're going to really need to feed your body and supply it with the nutrients it needs to grow). Eat whole grain breads and pastas, stay away from refined sugar and don't forget fruits and vegetables.
 
One more thing: That lifting routine is simple and basic, there are a few exercises that you should make sure you can do properly, and have a spotter on...specifically squat and dead lifts. Once you're really into the weight training, experiement with all kinds of set/rep variations, read up on drop sets, strip sets, super sets...there is so much out there to do. The above routine will be a great way to start for about 2 months, but do some research and really check out all the awesome variations. You're going to awesome! Good luck and let me know if you need anything else!

adler
 
Adler1983 said:
You've got a lot of questions. You're at a good age to start weightraining. The simplest way to break down a beginners weight routine is by muscle group:
Day 1: Chest - Flat Bench, incline bench, Dips, pec dec, pushups
Day 2: Back - Deadlift, Pullups, one arm row, Lat pulldown (narrow grip to add thickness to your back), cable row.
Day 3: Shoulders - Overhead press (both with a bar and dumbells), lateral raises, rear delt raises, front raises (...there are some cool variations of shoulder raises IE lateral raise the weight, then pivot the weights in front of you and lower them in front of you), shrugs.
Day 4: Legs - Squat, lunge or step-ups, Incline Press, Leg Curl/Leg Extension SuperSet, calf raises
Day 5: Arms/Abs/Core - 3 bicep exercises, 3 tricep exercises, and some abs and core stuff.

With compound movements (bench press, rows, pulldows etc), shoot for 6 - 8 reps with enough weight that you can barely finish the last rep. With isolation movements (pec dec, shoulder raises etc) shoot for 10 - 12 reps again with enough weight that you can barely finish the last rep.

Nutrition is key. Try to eat 3 meals of normal size, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Make sure you're getting protein in every meal. Then between meals snack on a protein bar, yogurt, oatmeal, fruit, peanut butter...and thigns along those lines. Don't go crazy with these snacks, something around 10 - 15 grams of protein in each snack would be great. And with your meals shoot for 25 - 30 grams per. Lean meats only, nothing fried or fatty. It might be tough for you to eat this much at first, but your body will adjust to it. Keep the fat intake around 60 grams, and overall calories between 2000 and 2500 (seems like a lot, but you're going to really need to feed your body and supply it with the nutrients it needs to grow). Eat whole grain breads and pastas, stay away from refined sugar and don't forget fruits and vegetables.
Click to expand...

I agree with some of your advice. That workout you posted is in NO way prime for muscle mass building. You are lacking a very important factor in the workout you posted...FREQUENCY. Without frequently working the muscle you will not be growing to your potential. These once per week targets are old news, and for good reason. Many new lifters like to claim that they made good gains from the use of a once per week target. However, they would have made gains off of just about any routine. They saw gains because they were lifting in general. However, what they do not know is that they could have been growing a great deal more by hitting each group at least twice weekly. In addition, a new lifter will be able to workout a little more frequently than an aged lifter.

I suggest a fullbody routine compose of entirely compound movements.

Monday/Wednesday/Friday
Bench press 3x10
Pullups 4xBodyweight (alternate with deadlifts every other w/o)
Squats 4x10
SLDL 1-2x10
Dips 2x10
 
Genius,

Unfortunately I have to disagree with this advice. There is a theory called the 'set point theory'. It suggests that muscles have a point in which they are just enough healed that hitting them again will be beneficial. The general thought is that a 2-3 day rest is necessary.

Typically i recommend to my clients that pushups be done with a back day, and pullups done with chest or shoulders so as to hit the muscle group very gently again.

Compound exercises are essential, but your routine lacks rowing motions to add back mass, and too many people neglect the incline press. The day of flat bench only is dead, incline bench is just as crucial and the routine lacks a hard target of the shoulder complex.

There is no standard to weighlifting, everyone is different, but the most fundamental science of body mechanics can not be argued. Muscles need to fire from all available angles, hence front, lateral and rear raises for delts as well as overhead presses. Muslces are designed to work both in isolation and in combination, for maximum development all uses of the muscle must be targeted.

Lastly, the routine above lacks sufficient number of overall sets per muscle group. 3 sets of bench press will not cause a blood swell to the muscle, it is just about enough to cause the most basic muscle trauma.
 
Interesting debate.

Adler, on the set point theory, I believe that is actually relating to flexibility. The length the spindle fibers (which reside in the muscles that oppose gravity) are willing to stretch determines the "set points" in the range of motion of the muscle group. The theory which you are speaking of sounds more like "adaptive reconstruction" or "supercompensation".

As you pointed out, there are very little standards in our industry, but experience is a great teacher, and it doesn't hurt to arm yourself with research either.

You obviously have some experience working with clients, but that does not mean that your methods are the most efficient for the biggest group of potential clients, unless of course you only focus on bodybuilders.

I personally do not recommend a 5 or six day split with a single bodypart being trained all in one day. I used to, mind you. I even had a routine up on my own web site for years that was a 5 day split routine. Now I do full body workouts with most of my clients, and even on myself.

Muscles need to fire from all available angles, hence front, lateral and rear raises for delts as well as overhead presses. Muslces are designed to work both in isolation and in combination, for maximum development all uses of the muscle must be targeted.
Click to expand...

I disagree for many reasons. First, you are basically trying to say that you need to isolate every single group before a bodypart can be considered worked. It is impossible to isolate anyway, but when you do a compound movement like chest press, do you think that your front delts and triceps are not being worked? Synergistic moves can really give you the most bang for your buck. For new trainees I usually focus on the big 5 lifts (bench, chins, RDL, squat, dips). Until a solid foundation is established I don't start moving into more complex moves (clean and jerk, push/press complex, etc). Even then I rarely "isolate" arms unless the client just wants bigger arms in proportion to their body. Your arms get worked every time you do chins and presses. Think of them as "squats" for your arms (I think it is Alwyn Cosgrove who used that phrase, but I'm not sure). I only do a few "vanity sets" (as I call them) on Fridays. During the week I do full body workouts using the "Autoregulation" method.

The idea of having to spend an entire workout on one bodypart is actually kind of a throwback to the old M&F bodybuilding routines, and it doesn't jive with the most current data from more reliable sources. For a new trainee it is overkill for each bodypart. Once the primary movers reach their neural drop-off point, there is no point going any further. What Genius was saying in his post about frequency is that if you can control your volume, you will be recovered in time for more frequent workouts. I will go further into this but I must return to work. Thanks for the interesting thread guys.
 
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JP -

I do agree with what you're saying. And i apologize for my error with the set point theory.

You'll notice on my second threat i posted a caveat about this being simplistic and basic as a workout. It is good for isolation.

That said...I must bow out and admit, you're the man. I stand corrected.
 
In the above reply: I meant threaD, not threaT, and that "it is good for isolation." --> can be ignored...it shouldn't have been in there.
 
No need to apologize. For all I know, you may have read that in one of the muscle mags out there. I'm like you Adler... Just here to learn as much as possible.

Also, one thing that you need to remember is that I am not a bodybuilder, nor do I train my clients to be bodybuilders. If that is your thing, then your approach may indeed be better for your target audience.
 
This thread is an example of why I, personally, enjoy contributing to these forums rather than others. We can all make mistakes and/or be corrected without being FLAMED.

Nice responses, both of you guys. Both made some interesting points.


In Health,
DM
 
Adler1983 said:
Genius,

Unfortunately I have to disagree with this advice. There is a theory called the 'set point theory'. It suggests that muscles have a point in which they are just enough healed that hitting them again will be beneficial. The general thought is that a 2-3 day rest is necessary.

Typically i recommend to my clients that pushups be done with a back day, and pullups done with chest or shoulders so as to hit the muscle group very gently again.

Compound exercises are essential, but your routine lacks rowing motions to add back mass, and too many people neglect the incline press. The day of flat bench only is dead, incline bench is just as crucial and the routine lacks a hard target of the shoulder complex.

There is no standard to weighlifting, everyone is different, but the most fundamental science of body mechanics can not be argued. Muscles need to fire from all available angles, hence front, lateral and rear raises for delts as well as overhead presses. Muslces are designed to work both in isolation and in combination, for maximum development all uses of the muscle must be targeted.

Lastly, the routine above lacks sufficient number of overall sets per muscle group. 3 sets of bench press will not cause a blood swell to the muscle, it is just about enough to cause the most basic muscle trauma.
Click to expand...

There are a few points that I believe JP missed in his reply ;).

"The day of flat bench only is dead...". Performing 3 sets of flat bench press 3 times weekly, with 10 reps adds up to around 90 sets in total volume for the week. That is more than enough to provide significant stimulus to induce hypertophy. Why did I only place flat bench press? To make the pectorals grow you train the pectorals. You may be able to place a different emphasis on the chest with different exersizes like the incline bench press, but why perform both incline and flat bench presses? Flat bench press is still working the pectorals a great deal. It usually takes me a good month just to get the feeling of the exersize down again. Why not maximize adaptation in the flat bench press, and then switch it up after a month or so? Trying to use multiple exersizes on every bodypart at his early stage is a waste of time.

Now to the pullups and rowing issue. Pullups have to be, in my opinion, the BEST overall exersize for the back. 4 sets should hit the back pretty well. The back is also getting some added work from the bench pressing, while the lowerback is getting good work from the squats and stiff-legged deadlifts.

Pushups can be beneficial at times when weights are not available. Lose the pushups and do more bench pressing if you would like. Why do "light work" on so called off days for that group when you could be working out more frequently with compound movements that provide much more resistance?

Overall volume looks about right. Without working to failure on the routine I posted one should be well recovered by the time the next workout rolls around. The chest is getting a little more from the dips, even though I meant them to be tricep dips. 3 sets should be plenty my friend.

Don't fall into the trap of pounding it out on one of these rediculous once-per-week targets. It's not practical, its not best, and it certainly won't lead to any quick gains in muscle mass. Muscles need frequent stimulus, all there is too it.
 
JP and Detroit...thanks for your feeback.

I really enjoy reading what people have to say here, and viewing opinions as well as facts that i have not yet learned. This is such a great resource.
 
Quote Adler:

"You'll notice on my second threat, that if you dare correct my theories again, I will result to violence"

Adler, there some things you shouldn't say on a gym forum dude. :p


Without making this a praising thread for the forum, Id like to say how appreciative I am of all the help I have got. Now when Im pursuing my ideal figure I dont have doubts as to what im doing wrong because Ive asked questions which have been answered quickly and in depth. I think if I didnt run into this forum id still be doing my previous weak routine which got me nowhere.

God bless us, everyone.
 
Slik - When i first read your "quote adler" i had to scroll up and re-read what i had written, for a moment i thought i actually did write that :).

Anyway - a hearty good luck to you in achieving all your goals!
 
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